Mayor should be the 'first citizen'

The issue of the mayoralty and the manner of selection by the Conservative administration has once again reared its ugly head.

Despite the election of a personally nice guy, Cllr Ted Baker, the Medway Labour group voted against the nomination at this year’s Annual Meeting of the Council, as a protest at the manner in which local tradition, fair play and basic decency have been undermined by the incumbent Conservative group.

Under the previous points based system - which had been in place since 1974, and remains in other authorities across the country - the Mayoralty was allocated in a fair and transparent manner, with selection including all those who sit as members of the Council.

The system allowed for a clear, democratic and unbiased means of appointing a Mayor, potentially offering all political groups a fair chance to represent Medway.

In 2007, the Medway Conservatives broke this tradition by making the office of Mayor a political appointment. The role of Mayor is now selected on partisan grounds, to the notable exclusion of the Labour Group, whose turn for the mayoralty is now overdue.

Therefore, in the interest of fairness and democracy, the Labour Group instead nominated Cllr Nick Bowler (Rochester East) for the position of Mayor.

Leader of the Labour group, Cllr Paul Godwin, who moved the recommendation to appoint Cllr Bowler as Mayor, stated;

“The Tory’s decision to appoint the mayor themselves instead of sticking with the fair and open system we previously used shows clear disregard for the principles of democracy and accountability. Instead the manner in which the mayoralty and its attendant privileges has been closely guarded by the Tories is symbolic of the greed and self interest of the Medway Conservatives in general”

Commenting on the nomination, Cllr Nick Bowler, who was previously Mayor stated;

"Whilst I wish the new mayor well, it is simply unacceptable that the Tories continue to play petty partisan games; it is a grave dishonour to Medway and to all our residents. A rotating non-partisan Mayoralty is a healthy reflection of the community and its diversity”

Both are right.

In this context, the mayor should be the first citizen and not the first politician of Medway